I recieved an unexpected email from google recently stating the termination of my google-adsense account. After displaying my ads for about half a year, I’ve made a total of $300USD since then, no idea how such ads can generate so much cash by just putting them up on the site. They sent me a letter to comfirm a pin so that cheques can be emailed & when I was just awaiting my first ad cheque on the 1st paying month, to my astonishment and without warning, google left me an e-mail, disabled my account, taking all my MONEY with them.

They stated that I’ve violated the adsense terms of services in a typical standard computer generated email, reason being neglectably & sweepingly general:

Later do I know after asking around, that’s the same email everyone recieves upon reaching their pay release date & if anyone who falls under the category of generating “invalid clicks”.

I didn’t do any of those illegal acts listed in the letter, google didn’t even send me any form of a notice, warning at all of what actually went wrong which caused the invalid clicks, they didn’t give me a chance to explain my situation, not even a single one. Its just terminate, blacklist my account & make off with my money…

This definately undermined by impression on Google now, as a professional internet corporation. And man do I feel betrayed now, I always partonised google by promoting & offering google searches & this is how they repay me? I wonder do they actually return the money to the advertisers, or do they just eats it all themselves? Anyway, if google is so “transparent” is terminating & hiding from publishers, they definately have no obligations to hide from advertisers actual impression counts too.

I hate being exploited, I miss the good old days of excite.com, altavista & yahoo… even before Google existed - grown to a big fat giant with too many “ooooo” to spare. Well done Gooooooogle…

Now to change the start page of all my computers to Yahoo.

Standard Chartered Marathon SCM 2006 Mega Update
Been recieving quite alot of enquiries regarding SCM, especially about the sizes for SCM singlet & Finisher’s Attire. So I’ve included an official measurement chart for both the singlet & finisher’s shirt size measurements.

Personally from my last year’s attire, I wear an M which is quite a good fit for the singlet, finisher’s tee also have the very same dimensions & fit. Otherwise L is the other most suitable for most gentlemen looking for a more baggy feel. For the ladies, there are ladies sizes as well, with the respective sizes average about 10 less in chest width per respective size.

SCM 2006 Official Shirt Size Chart:

For a more “hands-on” comparison if you ran last year, the attire is very much similar to that then, as adidas is still the apparel sponsor for this year’s marathon.

Also if you were at the SCM event launch last July at the Raffles Place Park, there are quite a few runners wearing the same blue singlet with SCM 2006 on it, so can be very safe that the singlet this year is of the same make & cutting.

SCM 2006 Registration Fee Schedule:

SCM 2006 RaceDay Schedule:

SCM 2006 Running Route:

[ Larger High Resolution Map (opens in new window) ]

The route is similar to that of last year but with more waterpoints stationed 1.5km apart.

And if since you are running already, why not Run for the Handicaps Welfare Association (HWA)? Its for charity as well!

GO THE EXTRA MILE for HWA. It’s Fund Raising & Fun Racing!

Current Running for 42km:

Pohfong, Zul, Elrick, Darren, Shaun

Current Running for 21km:

Alec (Yoke Tai)

Current Running for 10km:

Poh Loong, James, Yuan, Huida, Zhongyuan

Just woke up at around 5pm after sleeping the whole afternoon upon reaching home, of course definately after lunch, a nice warm bath. Found time to blog, amazingly recovery is very fast this year no more sore feet & wobbly legs now, can even jog & jump about. Unlike the aches last year lasting even 2 days after raceday, I think my skin getting thicker too…

Pre-Race
Had dinner the night before with the Plowman family at Kenny Rogers Marine Cove, East coast. Had their half chicken & ribs platter with side servings of marconi & cheese, long beans & mashed potatos, good carbo. The catch is that we stayed & chatted after dinner, then went for a walk along east coast park before calling it a night (11.30pm). Then my parents had to fetch them home before picking Sheena & me thereafter. Slept at around 12.40am so technically only had about 3 1/2 hours of sleep before waking up at 4am again.

Breakfast was at a hawker center opposite bras basah, beside Apollo hotel. Parked around the arts hertitage building area & walked there for some mee sua soup & teh-o.

Reached the padang with annoucements of the race starting in 5mins. & the race actually flagged out after I deposited my baggage. Baggage collection was unlike last year, no dark 5-tonners & was actually good this year. I was expecting a tonner dump again this year thou, coming with baggage tag already attached & choosing the brightest & most outstanding orange colored bag for spotting. Till they told to put my bag in plastic bag (presumably to prevent lost or tempering of belongings) which caused a minor hassle to reattach the tag, credits going to the helpers there who helped in re-attaching my tag too, yea good.

Did a rush warm-up & stretch, intending to warm up on the run. The esplanade bridge was actually clear when I was there, competitive had been flagged off. & non-competitive gathering unlike the packed bridge last year. Nevertheless flagging off with the bulk of the crowd didn’t prove too good either as it’s too packed to speed up. The race had started…

The Race, as runner no. N5356
Pacing is very hindered this year, the first 4km was the worst spotting 6.30min/km pacing even with mindless weaving & cutting in and out of the crowds, still can’t speed up to my optimum 5min/km pace. Just too crowded as one lane is closed most of the route, like running squeezing through a funnel. Finished at a disappointing yet satisfying 2:08, inclusive of my toilet break, waits at all the traffic lights & after removing my champion chip at the finish, so actual timing may actually be lesser, but off my aim of at least 1:50mins. The widest & best ovetaking part has to be east coast park area & nichol highway area though.

Saw SGrunner sotong around mid-race & kept up with the tower before having to answer big nature calls at a petrol kiosk (guess with so much comments on shitting in pants thing over last week’s NBRR). Never do I know can see him again at outram MRT, talking to tiwazz who had problem with cramps. Too bad it was too packed jog over & say hi, I passed & overtook the group. Jonathan bumped into me before outram around riverside hotel.

Talking about toilet break having cleared my bowels the night before & right before the race, I never see myself coming to an urge halfway through the run. Maybe its the crazy toilet crowds at the eastcoast area which brought that to mind, together with the very bowel inducing motions running can give to your body. Held to my guns till past fort road where I couldn’t hold & detoured to a SPC petrol kiosk, greeted by a very friendly uncle who pointed the direction to the kiosk’s toilet upon approaching him, it was clear & even had Toilet Paper! Saved! It was a quickie, just like F1 pitstops, left the cubical only to be greated by a long queue of runners waiting in line, whew!

6Div waterpoint seems to be the nicest, the one along nichol highway, with tribal firetheming, water, cheers & spray points. I guess the only things I have against this year’s event are the ultra small marker signboards, the need to STOP at almost every traffic light!, esp at the bugis, SMU & cantoment area. Irritating! Moreover, at some water points, you have to open the Isotonic drink packs instead of them being race friendly, so didn’t touch any isotonic drinks this year at all. Where GATORADE this year!??

Post Race
The true efficiency of the baggage collection shines after the race, after a long time too! Beside a wide use of post-it notes, my bag actually took 2mins to arrive & we get to keep our tags at the end too. Commended about that to the bag depositers who were rather pleased with their job too. There isn’t much of a queue when I was there too & even if so, was fast moving. Thumbs up!

Met Darius & Jonathon at the war memorial where we rested stretched & hydrated. Milo was nice & cold too, countesy of few Milo Trucks. & I have the luxury to camp there for freeflow before the truck is turned upside down by the 6km & 10km crowds thereafter.

It rained halfway throughout the 6 & 10km races, therefore no no SGrunners phototaking. The rain proved much to my parent’s dismay who caught the rain mid-race too & wet parking coupons. Goodie bag queues were freakin’ long, lucky competitive already collected ours at the race-expo.

Met up with the rest of the track team under the esplanade bridge hearing tales of being the last of the competitive runners & the herd of non-competitive runners treating to engulf them alive. Also heard of runner shitting tales, drip & medical tentage tales courtesy of Weijian. Interesting. Those who also ran & were there: Darius, Huida, Weiwen, Yiying, Shunqiang, KC, Yuan, Zhongyuan & Alec.

Medals this year looks cheaper then that of last year (doesn’t have the nice dark faces as shown) but still same solid. Registered for Swissotel Vertical Marathon 06 at the padang booths, beats mail-in & fax registration ($29 early bird price, $39 usual), Trackmate Alex won’t be running for it this year though considering since last Suntec Vertical Marathon this year, but as usual Ahlong is going.

Updated my long lost friendster account after like god knows when!
[ http://www.friendster.com/shauny ]
Nothing much just new photos, but we can have 50 now! ooooo! Last time was like only umm 3?

Preps for AHM
Mmm tomorrow will be 21km day, just a little more than my usual 15km jog in the park. Up-ed my Mp3 player with a playlist full of smooth songs for a relaxing start & head-banging techno & trance in the 2nd hour to push up the pace to finish. Different song specifies & plays after a certain elapsed time so I know my race pacing throughout the run. Aim to finish in 1hr 50mins, 10mins better than last year’s 2hrs flat. Purposely cut all songs after 2hours, a motivation to finish earlier or NO MUSIC! Also to finish before 8am to see my friends & parents off running the 10km.

Dad (aka the alarm clock) suggested dragging me to bras basah for breakfast where he claims a 24hr coffee shop exists, as most hawker stores near my home at 4.30am tomorrow won’t have food prepared by then (Mmm but I remembered eating near home last year?).

SGrunners, enjoy ya carbo-loading later tonight, sorry I can’t make it. For me, will be Mmmm, fat-loading (Triple Fold FAT BELLY!) for AHM at Kenny Rogers later for Dinner with the Plowman family- Mum’s old friends from England & my family’s hosting the treat!

Come on people! 18k hits a day & not a single comment for days? wahh maybe I should increase the comment link font size….

Visited the doctor at Tan Tock Seng Hospital today with regards to my potential leg problem. You see my lower leg have this slight abnormal curve in the bone & if left uncorrected can lead to uneven wear on the knee due to uneven loading the leg gives. Just imagine like pushing down on a tilted stick on the ground with the face of your palm, naturally one side feels more loaded than the other, so thats the analogy.

It can however, be corrected easily with relatively minor surgery, preventive surgery you would say. But without of course spending like 6weeks on the wheelchair if I choose to operate on both legs at a go, rather than one at a time which can actually take twice the time before I am done. Amazingly from the X-ray, the doctor said my knee is perfectly healthy & a-ok even given this case of “bowing”. Normally its always people who have knee pains or discomfort relating to my case when they would actually see the doctor to be fixed. Yes, preventive surgery for me you would say again, better to be safe than sorry.

Recalling, the clinic was relatively empty today & I was the last of the morning batch, so waited like a short 10mins before I was attended to. Haha the doctor was kinda nice, not to mention to chat too, Dr Yagappan or something. He specialises in Sports Medicine specifically in orthopedics (the). Yes so he can very much understand (on the same sports channel frequency) the pain & rigours what we crazy marathon-ers do to whack overselves crazy before crying back to momma.

Was told he’s gonna transfer to Mount Elizabeth’s end of year, so if it will cost 2 times to operate under the private sector. Otherwise he suggested operating under one his fellow doctors in Changi, with subsidy (Bringing price to $7000). Also specialising in wedge surgery. Moreover, there’s a chance he can come back as a consultant in TTSH next year & he can operate under government as well.

Then casually he told me: “if I am your bro’da I will tell you to ’scram’ right now cause there are so many other people with problems worst than you”. Seldom would anyone in such good physical condition come & have the choice to operate, as almost all his patients don’t even have a choice. But generally he told me no rush for surgery, as theres no pain whatsoever, don’t miss any semesters or let this disrupt my studies & maybe find time out after I graduate to fix myself up. Anyway he told me I can call him or the hospital direct if there are any urgent matters pertaining during this period.

Important, but not urgent I can say.

Left the doc’s only to see a feaking packed waiting area thereafter, gosh I actually camped in there for 20mins? Dammit must not be so talkative next time….

New Qantas regulations make it clear that no Dell laptops, not even those unaffected by the battery recall, are allowed to contain batteries while on the plane. That means nada usage while your fellow flightmate beside you happily go tippy-tappy on their Vaio with the same defective battery.

Apparently as we all know, the Dell batteries that were recalled were all Sony manufactured batteries between specific manufacturing dates. Sparking not only the greatest cheers & party poppin’ from HP & Gateway, but also Dell’s record setting biggest recall of 4.1 million laptop batteries worldwide. But Dell is not the only other company to use these batteries, Dell also uses at least 2 other non-Sony suppliers for their line of notebooks.

While Sony gets their own fair share of flames from their own medicine recently, the defective batteries are almost everywhere & not only arrowed on Dell. Cool Sony, you gave the world the walkman, now dual usage laptops which can also serve as BBQ fuel. What could be coole- umm… hotter?

But Qantas are blind just to ban Dells, or to even consider it. The FAA has evidence that if it does go up in flames, it will not bring down the plane & neither has plans to Ground Laptops. Well unless you are deliberately starting a 30 USB port BBQ, or the sudden interest of laptops by middle east men.

I do not own a Dell notebook, but this form of technological discrimination does not look good & will definately lead us to nowhere. Well one can always print one of those Gateway or HP stickers & just smack them over the Dell logos, airport staff can’t tell the difference anyway, neither the difference between a salad & dessert fork.

Mmm, what could be lamer than Snakes on a Plane? Dell Laptops on a Plane? Bwarregh!

Related Article

Story: Malaysian laptop thieves using mystery gadget to pick which cars to break into.

Presumably exploiting RFID scanners to detect those RFID tags/stickers normally placed onto the bottom of laptops containing serial/model numbers &/or li-ion batteries for computer assembly & manufacturer identification purposes.

For ya people intending to head up north with ya lappies. The best is to carry it with you, well that will solve this problem, but won’t guarantee physical in-person robbery & random parang assaults on the streets though.

Read more on Related Source on Engadget

Hey all tracksters, heres an update of an upcoming event during the SP semester holidays, the Terry Fox Run 2006- The Run For Hope.

Event Date: 17 sept
Time: 8am
Venue: Sentosa Tanjong Beach
Fee : S$25 for adults
Dist : 9km (competitive), 5km (fun)

I will most prob take the relax-jack 5km haha & maybe chill out at the beach for the rest of the day. Feel free to leave any comments on this & the plans. For registration, take note that it must be done in person at the following:

1. The Regent Singapore
One Cuscaden Road,
Sept 1 - 16, 2006
11 AM - 8 PM daily

2. Singapore Cancer Society
15 Enggor St.
#04-01 to 04 Realty Centre
Sept 1- 16, 2006
9 AM - 6 PM (Mon -Fri)

3. Borders
501 Orchard Rd.,
#01-02 Wheelock Place
Weekends - Sept 2,3,9, 10, 16 from11 AM - 8 PM
Weekdays - Sept 11 - 15 from 5 PM -8 PM

Further 2006 Event line-up:
2nd Link Bridge Run 06 → Swissotel Vertical Marathon → Stand Chartered Marathon

Wahhaah still have one paper to go on friday & already in holiday mood. Haiz haiz must restraint, RESTRAINT! Only few more days, put in the effort for the last Thermofluids II paper & whoa! Then the holiday anvil can come lose on me full time anytime.

Moreover, though I find the Thermofluids kinda dry & boring it’s our lecturer Mr Pawa which makes the lessons very interesting, if it’s not his open nature for exam consultation, its his astonishing relation of our dirt dry lecture notes to practical real-life aspects. Not to mention his professionalism in teaching, just such of the very few rare lecturer breeds I came across in my course of Mechanical study. Simply just motivates you to score & ‘A’ grade just not for yourself, but also for who your teacher is. *Locks self to room & devour more dual combustion & rankine cycle theory*

Gadget Talk
Nevertheless, almost put aside my quest for the perfect phone as there seem to be no puurfect phone around, even the Sony Ericsson P990i & Dopod 838 Pro don’t appeal to me, just when I thought I have to survive with a dinky Nokia 7250i for months to come, the BenQ-Siemens P51 came along:

The Benq-Siemens p51 GSM (850/900/1800/1900 mhz) & GPRS (No UTMS) WM 5.0 OS Phone Edition (With AKU2 Push E-mail) 2,83″ TFT QVGA display (240×320 pixels @ 65k colors) 1.3MP camera with flash 128mb RAM & 128 ROM QWERTY- Keyboard GPS-module SiRF Star III FM Radio (Unheard, but stated on offical website) Bluetooth (Version not stated yet) Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g), Bluetooth & USB 2.5mm Audio Jack (yea!) Full Sized SDIO/MMC card slot (yea!) SMS, MMS & E-mail USB Sync & Charging Li-Ion battery with 1370 ma/h capacity 240 minutes (4hrs) talk time 150 hours stand by 122х60х20 mm 170 grams It seems to have everything I need, well for at least about 2 years ahead. Till it starts giving the usual gitches & battery wear. Till then, I don’t really need 3G UTMS as firstly its too expensive, secondly it’s a battery drain & thirdly even if I have one, who am I gonna video call? Almost anyone I know who own 3G phones presently still run their 2.5G SIM cards internal & amazingly it’s a norm here in Singapore. Even those with 3G sims hardly use UTMS & definately they won’t wanna run unnecessary 3G video calls either. Camera-wise, since I use my phone camera mainly for web-based photoblogging for the site, 1.3MP is more than enough for me, though 2MP is the norm now. In fact I will most probably see myself shooting Max quality VGA (640×480) most of the time. The 2.5mm stereo jack problem could be easily settled with an adaptor for 3.5mm headphones, which can be found in many SimLim audio shops & its beats attaching an adaptor found in many phones extending the device length by inches at ago. Otherwise, the FM radio function is very much unconfirmed on various mobile review sites, except being briefly mentioned on the official site itself (which do not seem credible at this moment of time). The GPS function is definately cool for driving & in my annual adventure races, not to mention having to carry only one device for photos, PDA & phone for trips (contray to 2 devices I carry everyday now). Full-sized SD slot allows me to use large capacity & cheaper 4GB cards for large GPS maps & music/videos. Just throw in USB host support to top it up & it can just hit the sweet spot just great. Expect it to cost around $800SGD & below it being a GSM quad-band only phone, so prices will definately be lower. Benq-Siemens p51 Official Site

The Newbalance realrun was on yesterday (Bib no. MO1959). In the mist of all the sunburn we’ve got from the sea water, tanning oil & a good sunny weather. Now all red like overcooked lobster… Yea, but it was cool, literally…

This year’s crowd was smaller than last year’s (presumably because of Sheares Bridge run 2006 next week), with the opens crowd not even up to the gatecarpark entrance (the slope with cars parked leading to the merlion behind the start line), as opposed to last year’s crowd. But nevertheless a respectable crowd is still there which resulted in a very slow start. It took like 3.3mins after the horn to actually cross the start line! wah next time start in front lol. The start is where its packed the most especially the satellite circle & I was really delayed off my usual running pace at the 4km mark - too many people & very difficult to overtake. Nevertheless, I really apprieciate water points, not for drinking but crowd control as everybody rush to the sides for water, there will always be a nice center clear path for me to speed up catch up with my pacing.

Besides relying on pure power to overtake on uphills, the other overtaking spree is always at the sand part, which always seem to have an immediate mental effect on runners (I remembered seeing a runner immediately started walking the moment she touches the first grain of sand, like magic?). For me its my wildcard, generally, keep running & take small but constant strides & you can go quite fast on the loose sand. Strangely the sand part this year do not feel like 1.6km, maybe around 1.0-1.2km. Or maybe it just felt different due to a diversion of the usual route.

The trail part is still the same, fast shady dash to the finish with the all usual kids in the forest cheering ya on with distances left “too short” to be true.

Finished like 53:13.33, just 20 seconds faster than last year’s 53:36. But off way my aim of sub 50.. haiz.

Nevertheless a good run.

Missed The Sgrunners event aniversary photo taking together with samuel & trackz when we went to take our barang barang… Dang should have informed TLR instead of reno or our absence.

Interesting events during the run:

Yes, this year’s run seem to be rather ’stinky’, mainly because of a runner who soiled his pants when running! You can detect his faint distinctive presence at many points around the run, but nothing can beat what brokie & me encountered at the siloso beach area, round the 7-8km mark:

A Chinese guy with white singlet top, commendably running at a relatively fast pace in that condition too, with brown stained stuff seeping though his white running top & some umm brown stuff dripping down his leg. You definately can’t miss the sight, with the ever choking natural smell with always seem to be following you. Haha you can see a very large 5×3m gap behind him sia, very very funny. but still yucky… Which proved to be a very good motivational factor to overtake him & never let him OVERTAKE you again!

Interesting, interesting.

Post Race:
Hung out post race at siloso beach to chill out, played alittle volleyball, depsite being very rusty after one year from the sport. Otherwise theres frisbee. Heard the sgrunners are chlling out at tanjong beach, which is the other end of Sentosa, so didn’t join them in the end. Missed out on soccer & basket-football as I was too tried after the run to play. Nevertheless, the monkey’s ball game in the water proved to be one of the few group cohesive games, not to mention a not too physically demanding game for lazy bums like me.

Pohlong aka Alson came down midway during the day, who is ostrocized most of the time. Haha, but the some of us did mentioned not being too hard on him as its just his nature haha, so as some get to know of him though his seemingly “open nature”. He actually wanted to chat, so found some time to have nice leisure talk with him at the end of the day where I got to know him better. Turns out hes like one of the few “fallen angels” as well, out of JC & into poly. Then we chatted about school & stuffs, with Yuan & Cockroach. Generally everyone judges a book by its cover, so don’t be too deceptive as it seems, he’s not that bad as it seems when you get to know him in person. Nevertheless he is still the only one with a free seat beside him on the crowded bus back..

Oh yea, you can request a cert of the event throught the online login page, which do not seem to be working either.

Millege for the week (7 day period)
Sunset Way Canal Route 10km - Friday
New Balance RealRun, Sentosa 10km - Sunday
Total Millege for week = 20.0km (67% of 30km/week target met)

*chomps on apple muffin while typing this post* Man! Am I on the ball now, InterStella HyperDrive, Schedule On Track with NO Eminent possible Serailment, Beam me up Scotty, 3 Papers To Go!

My first paper will be on tomorrow, starting with Engineering Maths II. Been looking forward to it as it would mark the end of another module & one step closer to the end of the exams. For me, it would be with the Newbalance Realrun 2006 to look forward to at the end of the week.. & maybe a nice relaxing chill at the Sentosa beach with the track team thereafter in the mist of all this exam heat. Just dun rain… When the holiday starts, it will be the start of a new set of interesting challenges & “chores”, till then, chill.

You may notice that my blog these days are not really photoblogs, as my handphone is still currently down. & it beats carrying my digicam around too. Thus the ever bitching about technology & gadgets in search of a replacement phone these days. Otherwise, (as many would have already did) you can call my home phone (which I never knew still exists). Ahhh the tranquility of being away & ignoring GSM… Just let me savour the quiet, peaceful moment before the uncontactable angry mobs come after me in a few weeks to come…

Guess IVP caught me at a bad time this year. Firstly off with the semester exams smack right on weeks before the event, miscellanous commitments, marathon preparations (in mara mode now) & the possiblity of a light leg surgery during the september holidays. Interestingly, the doctor at TTSH had to postpone my appointment 2 times already, so inconvenient & inflexible schedules, hope they did not piss me off again when I am there or change my appointment again!

Nevertheless been training/running by myself despite missing offical track training, with the adsence of gym training. Anyway, heres my exam schedule:

17th August, Thursday - Engineering Maths II (2-4pm)
18th August, Friday - Mechanics II (9am-11am)
25th August, Friday - Thermofluids II (9am-11am)

Things will start to be clear by this friday, with the unloading of Maths & Mechanics from my temporary L2 cached memory brain cells to accomodate packing over the next week for Thermofluids II, think 640KB would be enough for anyone, well so as Bill Gates said…

Bwahhahaha all your ‘A’s are belong to me!

Millege for the last week (6th-12th August 7 day period)
15 rounds Tiong Bahru park, Thursday - 15km
SP Gym 3+1 Varied Weight Training + 5.1km threadmill - Friday
15 rounds Tiong Bahru park, Sunday - 15.2km
Total Millege for week = 35.1km (118% of 30km/week target met)

When I brought my first Siemens handphone more than 6 years ago, I’ve never turned away from that brand ever since & went on with my SX1 till now. Then things started looking bleak when BenQ acquired them. As I never really like BenQ phones. I never thought I would see myself owning another Siemens. Till I almost forgot of the Fujitsu-Siemens brand of phones. In the mist of searching for my next “purrrfect phone”, presenting the Fujitsu-Siemens T830. (Pictured on left, beside the HTC Hermes aka O2 XDA Trion aka Dopod 838 Pro on the right)
Specifications:

• Windows Mobile 5.0 OS
• 240×240 Touchscreen
• 2MP Primary Autofocus Camera
• Video Call Secondary VGA Cam
• GSM/UTMS 3G
• Side JogDial
• Wi-Fi 802.11b and 802.11g
• Bluetooth 2.0
• Built in GPS Chip & Reciever
• Hardware Qwerty Keyboard
• Full Sized SD/SDIO/MMC slot
• 3.5mm Audio Jack
• 128MB ROM & 64MB RAM

Maybe just make the keyboard more compact (like the blackberry/p990i or slider KB) to accomodate a full 2.7″ VGA 640×480 Screen (65k colours at least, 262k preferred), slap in HSPDA3.5G support & FM radio & it will just hit it right on the sweet spot.

One Fujitsu Siemens T830 review by solopalmari & another from mobinaute.com (with babelfish translation from french).

The greatest welcome for the T830 is the use of the standard full sized SD cards (over adaptor format nightmares with miniSD or the horrific microSD cards) with its SDIO/SD/MMC slot & the presence of a 3.5mm Audio Jack with mini USB sync as standard.

The biggest reason pulling me back in the T830 is the 240×240 1:1 aspect screen. Though being a WM5.0-specific supported feature, it will the product’s main downfall - it WILL HAVE problems with most PPC programs designed for the QVGA 4:3 aspect screens, together with older WM2003 programs (either it won’t run or will have the bottom chopped off). Hopefully Fujitsu Siemens will release a succesor to the already promising T830 with these such recommended changes I will cover next.

In summary, the dream phone most people would want at the moment is non-existent. Currently its only a bit here & there, so maybe da manufacturers can get back on the drawing board with these features AT LEAST:

• Windows Mobile 5.0 OS (Phone Ed)
• 400Mhz Processor (XScale 624Mhz preferred)
• QVGA Touchscreen (VGA 640×480 preferred)
• 2MP Primary Autofocus Camera
• 0.3MP Secondary Video Cam
• Quad-Band GSM/UTMS 3G/HSDPA
• Side JogDial
• Wi-Fi 802.11b & 802.11g
• Bluetooth 2.0
• FM Radio w/built-in Antenna
• IrDA (Optional)
• Mini-USB sync/charging port with USB Host
• Built in GPS Chip & Reciever
• Hardware Qwerty Keyboard (Slideout prefered to maintain form)
• Full Sized SD/SDIO/MMC slot - IMPORTANT!
• Full sized 3.5mm Audio Jack - IMPORTANT!
• 128MB ROM & 64MB RAM
• 1350mah primary battery

Some features compliment another, like the full sized SD/MMC slots to go for loading in large maps for the GPS function, the 3.5mm jack acting as an antenna for the FM radio & a universal Mini-USB port for everything IO. Moreover, so it won’t be considered a downgrade (or upgrade) when I get a replacement for my current 624Mhz VGA Dell Axim x50v. If only my Dell had a slide out keyboard & phone functionality… Hope I find my puurrfect phone soon, da current replacement 7250i is simply killing me.

Other than that, theres the HTC Artemis & the AnexTEK SP310 smartphone, here & here.